Year of the Tiger (Changeling Sisters) (31 page)

Sanghee tossed her head, impatient with me. “Why would a water dragon walk?”

Raina and I stared at each other, stunned. I remembered all those times she had climbed into my dreams. I’d thought the winds and rains answering her had been some freak aspect of Eve. I remembered her hand calling lightning from the sky. Striking Maya down. The winds casting Crispin’s spear away.

I’d never asked Rafael about dragons.

“Well,” I said, “you told me there was something you could do, Raina.”

“Yes,” Raina replied, “I am going to save them.” She threw her arms around me and whispered into my ear: “Citlalli, how do you change to Wolf?”

My voice was gruff as I said: “I run.”

Raina nodded and pulled away. She began to run. She threw out her arms, and I saw the little girl dashing around the play castle in our sunny Santa Fe backyard, laughing as she tried to tag me. I watched her propel off the swimming pool wall in a flurry of bubbles, leap off the diving board with a gracefully arch bending her back—never afraid of breaking, confident that the water would catch her. Mari had been like that. Just as beautiful, just as graceful, on land. The pair of them. Dancers. Except Raina’s dance led to something else:
change
.

She began to leap, each time successively closer to the ledge, and the wind built up to catch her each time. I turned away. I couldn’t watch. She cried out, and I couldn’t tell if it was from fear or exhilaration. But I knew she’d thrown herself over the edge.

A sigh of clouds, exhaling sharply as they plunged over the drop-off. Dark Spirits began to coalesce around us, but they were rebuffed. I stared at the spot where the vampyre brides had stood. They were gone.

A flick of a sapphire-scaled tail and a blink of dark orchid eyes. The scent of fresh, gentle rains stained with ozone. Then the shadows of two great dragons swam off through the sea of clouds.

“Damn,” Kaelan said, rain slipping down his ears. “That’s why they wanted her.”

I smiled. “Yes. But Raina belongs to no one.”

Chapter 39: Battle of Brothers

After the dragons vanished into the mists, the Dark Dogs resurged in a fury. Rafael reared up on his hind legs as three muscular fiends converged on him. He lunged for the first one, tore its ear off, and then sank his teeth into the flank of another. He backed up to us, and Kaelan came to help him.

A Dark Dog leaped for my face, and I spun away, guarding Khyber’s soul. Rafael mauled it from behind, yapping and biting this way and that until he’d cleared a circle around us. I smiled to thank him, but it was his Were that returned my smile with a glare, bloodlust roaring in Its eyes.

“What are you waiting for?” Rafael snarled. “Release the soul of that hellspawn!”

I stared at him. “Raf. You know that if Khyber dies, he will stay on as a Dark Spirit.”

“Yeah.” He angrily spun in a circle of frothing teeth until dead Dark Dogs littered his feet. “Linger. In. Lonely, dark place. Forever!” He bowled over a cowardly omega. “It’s what he deserves. Look around you, Citlalli! He was feeding you false information, like he always does. What are these Dark Spirits but a bunch of angry, insubstantial ghosts?”

“They’re much worse than that. Much, much worse.”

Rafael caught his balance and faced me. “All I know,” he said through clenched teeth, “is he doesn’t deserve the chance to follow his family on, to possibly find them again—” He choked off.

I abruptly threw my arms around him. He was so warm amidst the ghostly fingers of the Dark Spirits scraping at us, but he smelled of blood, not the far-off shores of paradise. “I know,” I spoke wretchedly, staring at the remaining vampyre souls. “Someday I’ll be strong enough so we won’t have to place our fate in the hands of demons.”

Maya stood staring in detached fixation at the whirling flurry of wings. Even as their fangs slit his marble-white skin, Khyber still buffeted Aleksandr back with his wings, seized both of Santiago’s wrists and infected them with rot, and spun away at the last second when Crispin brought his mighty spear crashing down. For a second, it looked like he could break away from the clawing hands, but he didn’t flee. He only flung himself on the souls, taking Santiago’s in one hand and Aleksandr’s in the other. He clutched them so tightly that he didn’t notice the fangs tearing into his back. He only tightened his fists as if willing the souls to explode.

“Part, my sons,” Maya spoke suddenly. “I will finish him.”

They rolled their captive over and tore open his shirt. His moonlit chest shone bare as Maya stalked toward him. A Vampyre Lore list from a long time ago scrolled through my head: Vampyres could only die from beheading— Maya knelt down— a stake through the heart— Maya made no move to take Crispin’s spear— or by fire.

Maya did none of these things. She simply laid two fingers against Khyber’s heart, smiling as the blackness began to spread.

I let go of Rafael. I was in frail human form—overlooked, pitiable. Crispin’s nostrils flared when he smelled my warm blood, but by then it was too late. I seized Lover’s long braids and jerked her head back, exposing her neck. Then, with a brusque pull, I undid the string from Maya’s neck. And kicked her unraveled head straight off the mountain.

All four of Maya’s sons stared at me. I glared back, dimly aware of Rafael pacing behind me and murmuring, “ ’Atta girl, Citlalli.”

Crispin snapped back to reality first. “I will kill your mate and drain you dry, bitch!” he bellowed, and I braced myself for the charge.

“Santiago. Aleksandr.”

The two younger brothers paused at Khyber’s calm voice. A challenge. He was dangling their souls over the chasm casually. Invitingly.

“Ignore him, you fools!” Crispin thundered, but the two lunged for Khyber. All three disappeared over the edge.

That was when Rafael struck. Crispin turned to find a full-grown werewolf howling in his face. Rafael sank his teeth deep into the vampyre prince’s pudgy neck, but Crispin’s arms snapped up in a handcuff hold. Rafael struggled and pushed against Crispin’s chest to break free, but Crispin only smothered him closer. I heard an ominous snap of bone and dropped Khyber’s soul in an instant. Then I bounded across the heavy blanket of snow to help my mate, my thoughts dissolving into Wolf’s.

I attacked from behind, but Crispin’s sharp wings scratched my face. I yelped and leaped for his arms, but Crispin had the strength of an old oak; he spared one massive forearm to bash me aside. I fell to the ground and watched laughing Dark Spirits spin circles overhead. Kaelan, Yu Li, Moon… I could see their figures strung out along the ridge, fighting for their lives. They were too far away.

Crispin hurled Rafael into me, and the pair of us slammed against an ice crevice. I struggled, but I couldn’t wriggle free from under Rafael’s weight. The emerald-winged vampyre descended on us, sparing a moment to blow snow from the tip of his lance-long spear. Then he hoisted it toward our hearts.

Out of nowhere, he tripped under its weight, squealing in shock. The winds tore off the Invisibility Cap, and I caught a glimpse of Khyber’s jagged black hair. He bent Crispin’s spear so hard that it snapped. Khyber scrambled for the sharp end in the snow, and Crispin struck like a serpent, fangs dragging a long line down his elder brother’s face. He reared back his head only to sink his fangs in deeper, and I was horrified to see Khyber drop to his knees. If Crispin moved to the left, he would tear through a major artery.

I could breathe again, and realized Rafael had disappeared off me. Brow darkened, he appeared as a human behind the winged pair. The broken spearhead was hoisted in his fist. Entering the fray of buffeting forest-green wings, Rafael gripped the knife-sharp feathers to hold them still, for just one second. Then he slammed the spear shaft through Crispin’s rib cage, and clean through his chest.

The wings beat harder until blood leaked around Rafael’s fingers, but still, he held on. He held on until Crispin sank to the ground—a stake buried in his heart. Rafael’s eyes bore into Khyber’s all the while. Crispin’s head sank beneath them, and theirs rose.

“I have work to do,” Khyber said.

“The devil always has more work to do.” Rafael released the spear and stood there, naked and shivering. He looked from Khyber to me. “I can’t kill you. I’m too tired. And Citlalli will protect you. She will protect your ‘work.’ ” The last was hurled accusatorily at me, and I threw myself forward.

“He means to die after!”

“Sure. Okay.” Rafael swayed. “It’s really cold. Isn’t it?” Then he fell.

I whimpered and bundled up next to him, nudging his cheek with my equally cold nose. I stiffened when Khyber knelt as well, but he merely extended two bone-white fingers to check his pulse.

“Drifting into the endless sleep of hypothermia,” the prince said. “It’s one of the most peaceful ways to die.”

My tail thumped the ground. “Where are Santiago and Aleksandr?”

“They search for me. After I destroyed their souls, I lacked the strength to do anything more than fly away. They will return, soon, and Aaron will come as well. I caught sight of him on the eastern slope, killing werenagas, but Maya’s pain will draw him.”

We didn’t need to say how bad that was. Crispin had been a hell of a lot of trouble, and he was only the fourth son.

“And Donovan?” I whispered.

His slate-blue eyes darkened to turbulent midnight black. “You know as well as I: Raina. He, Amrit, and Eva guard the doorway back into your world.”

“Can you get there in time?”

He paused, a crow-like shadow towering over me. “You don’t wish to kill me? I have destroyed my living brothers’ souls.”

My head hunkered down to rest next to Rafael’s. “There’s someone else I wish to kill more.”

“My mother.” Khyber’s hand hesitated an inch from mine. “Citlalli…she has more than one life.”

“I know,” I said gruffly. “Girl. Lover. Queen.”

“Grandmother.” His incandescent blue eyes flashed up to mine. “You will need more than one life to defeat her.”

Wolf and Demon whispered within. I smiled. “Maybe I do.”

“I could come with you.”

We shook our head. “Just go.”

He went, touching the two souls left on his way. Takakazu’s and Duck Young’s evaporated with a sigh.

Unsurprisingly, his own iron lantern had also vanished.

Chapter 40: The Four Stages of Life

My howls were so loud that they woke slumbering icicles. Yu Li and Xiang found me howling my guts out next to Rafael’s crumpled shape. Xiang called a werebear over to carry him off to safety. Yu Li followed, but paused to fix me with her sapphire-bright eyes.

“Your brother is safe,” she said.

I prowled the peak with fiendish delight after that, eating what vampyre flesh I could find, and even dancing out over the exposed ridge, which had been whipped ragged by the wind. The Dark Dogs were thinning now, and Xiang called a timely retreat. The vampyre princes had found each other, and with Aaron at their head and the moon blessing them from above, they would be too fierce and untiring. Their vampyre underlings, those crazy Spooks, would be waiting in the trees to prey on our weary flanks.

We’ve done what we came for
, Wolf and I agreed. We’d dined on the flesh of our enemies. The life bond between Maya and Khyber had been broken. One more vampyre prince lay dead. And my sister, who was a freakin’ water dragon, would lead the girls out of the darkness and back to life.

Demon didn’t agree. She wanted more blood. So we hunted on. All I carried was a prayer wheel tied in a makeshift necklace around my neck, and Jaehoon’s red fang, so all of my enemies would know that I was his jaws of vengeance.

It was then that I heard a young girl crying, and I swiveled on my haunches. Raina had forgotten one! She seemed to carry no scent, but I blamed that on the heavy snows. The wind carried her voice down to me from atop the summit. I found her cuddled under the Korean flag.

The hair-raising whispers of the Dark Spirits intensified as I loped to her side. They were showing her wicked things, terrible, bad things, and I leaped through them with a snarl. The girl sat with her face buried in her hands.

“It’s okay. You can come back with me.” I licked her cheek comfortingly. And I tasted old, leather-tasting flesh.

Her pale hand snatched out to grab my foreleg with scary strength. “Oh, Doggy, there you are!” Girl said.

It was the youngest of Maya’s four life stages. I danced back, quickly. I knew I hadn’t killed Maya, although I hoped Lover was gone, permanently. She’d taken quite a beating. But now, so had I. And I’d strayed too far from the pack. I couldn’t even hear their howls. I was alone. The Dark Spirits weighed down upon me, filling me with bad thoughts and dread, as Girl rose to her full four-foot-five stature.

I made the mistake of looking her in the eye.

“You and your sister made Lover go away,” Girl announced, and I held my breath, excitement stirring.

“I hate you. Throw yourself off the mountain.” She was a princess, the apple of her daddy’s eye, and the darling of the court. She would be obeyed.

I looked everywhere for escape, but the full force of the moon bore down upon me, enveloping my world. I barked and ran, frantic to escape it. Jumping off the cliff was the only avenue to freedom.

NO!
There was one member of my pack who had stayed with me. Wolf bumped, hard, into my conscious. I caught a brief glimpse of the craggy face dipping away below me, felt thin air hang breathlessly around my paws. A great wind blew up around Maya. I heard it coming like a hungry animal.

I gave up. Slipping and whimpering back down my mind’s slope, I let Wolf’s bottlebrush black tail bolt up to the surface.

***

Danger.

I recoil from the dark ledge, pebbles slipping and showering down the drop-off. The Dead One’s eyes train on me as I slink into the shadows with my tongue dangling from my mouth. I feel a presence, a
dead
presence, seep through my ears, but her whispers make no sense to me, so I slip free from them time and time again, the way a fish slips out of reach of the eagle. Under the mud. Into the night.